Ralph Lawson has played a huge role in underground dance music for the past two decades. He currently holds residencies at Back To Basics Leeds, We Love Space Ibiza and Barcelona’s The Loft as well as regular appearances at Berlin’s Watergate and London’s Fabric. Bill Brewster (“Last Night a DJ Saved My Life”) described Ralph as undoubtedly one of “the UK’s best-kept secrets.” He was nominated in 2009 for ‘Best British DJ” along with 2020 Vision for ‘Best label’ by DJ magazine and has won five major awards during his residency at Back To Basics since it’s inception in 1991. He is a founder member of the highly acclaimed 2020Soundsystem as well as running 2020Vision recordings and hosting a weekly 2020mix on Ibiza Sonica radio.
Originally hailing from London Ralph picked up on the early New York transatlantic influence that swept the floors of the capital’s clubs in the mid-eighties. In 1988 as Acid House exploded Lawson moved North to Leeds where he discovered clubs like the Warehouse that were playing a mix of New York Hip Hop and Chicago House. Saturday night was sound-tracked by Nightmares On Wax DJ E.A.S.E who was busting their first hit ‘Dextrous’ from acetate as Ralph entered the hallowed doors. Greatly inspired by these nights Ralph went on to produce some early mix-tapes consisting largely of Nu-Groove, Big Beat, Dance Mania and DJ International records which landed him warm up spots at “Joy” which was the best club at the time. Ralph quickly found himself at the centre of a fresh new scene that was rapidly expanding, not only in Leeds but unfolding throughout the rest of the UK. He cemented his reputation through Joy and within months was closing the shows after acts such as LFO, NOW and Laurent Garnier.
He met the infamous Dave Beer at the Warehouse who invited him to join Alistair Cooke as residents at a new club he was setting up called back to basics. On Saturday November 23rd 1991, Back to Basics opened its doors at The Music Factory – Leeds. The very first record; Marshall Jefferson presents The Truth – “ Open Your Eyes” was played by Ralph Lawson. Attendances doubled weekly until nearly 2000 people were clambering to get in. This led to the club winning Best Dance Club no less than five times at DJ, Muzik and Mixmag. Lawson became musical director at Back To Basics and impressively helped pull off the first ever gigs in the UK for Daft Punk, Danny Tenaglia, Andrew Weatherall, Derrick Carter, Francois K, DJ Harvey as well as many others. Lawson learnt his trade from playing alongside the greats each and every week. As Leeds was one of the first UK towns with late licenses in the UK this also meant learning to play long sets.
Ralph’s fame as a DJ spread from his Basics residency and guest appearances at the legendary Hacienda, Sub Club, Flying and Full Circle in the UK quickly followed as well as his debut musical excursions around Europe and the USA. Ralph began a residency at The Moog club in Barcelona and played at Ku, Space and Amnesia in Ibiza from the early nineties. Lawson was also one of the first to venture to France and became a player in the newly emerging scene there. He was influential in bringing the nu wave of French artists into vogue, signing the young Ivan Smaghhe to 2020Vision for his first ever record and D’Julz followed soon after. He was invited to mix an album with Dan Ghenacia for the infamous after-hour boat parties at Batofar which was released on React and is still heralded as a classic pioneering after hours mix.
Lawson teamed up with long term production partner Carl Finlow to produce all the early works on 2020Vision including “Raptures of the Deep” which is now acknowledged as one of the very first tech-house records. Work then begun in earnest at 2020 HQ as Lawson & Finlow built up a healthy catalogue of mixes including work for Arthur Baker, Josh Wink, Felix da Housecat, Swag, and many others. Lawson & Finlow then started another long-term project called ‘Chuggles’ with Chez Damier from KMS and Prescription Underground. Lawson met Damier at the Sound Factory in New York and invited him to England to play at Basics and record for 2020Vision. They embarked on a series of records, which now fetch over £100 each on Discogs including the timeless ‘Dedication to Jos’ on Serious Grooves. They learnt greatly from Chez, especially how to mix and use vocals and this was then used to great effect with their next serious of records with another act from New York – Blaze.
Their first project with Blaze was ‘Lovelee Dae’ on Playhouse Records. This track went on to become a bona-fide all time classic (as still features in the all time Top 100 classics on Beatport). To date their remix has sold over 25,000 copies and is still heavily supported from Ibiza to Berlin – Luciano used to play it like clockwork every Monday at DC10 while Villalobos recently dropped it to 5000 people at Cocoon in the Park 2010. The pair’s reputation steadily grew after ‘Lovelee Dae’ and they went on to record for imprints Prescription Underground, Classic, Playhouse, Soma, Loaded, Estereo, Moody, Pagan and Tribal.
Lawson continued to grow as a DJ and further mix compilations followed to wide spread success including ‘Cut the Crap’ alongside Weatherall and Derrick Carter on six6 records and ‘Visionaries Volume One’ and ‘Live in Moscow’. It is interesting to see that Lawson was one of the first DJs to mix a live CD. It has always been the key to understanding where Lawson comes from. Mixes were always recorded ‘live style’ in the studio and Lawson always favoured live recordings to studio sessions.
In 2002 the idea to form a live electronic act grew steadily. Ralph, together with label artist and session drummer Dubble D hatched new plans to form an act that could play live on the world’s biggest stages. Amalgamating drumming with DJ sets, the pairs ‘Stars on 33’ mix album on Fat City marked the start of a Soundsystem experimenting in new ways to perform live. In 2003 Lawson received a demo from Argentineans’ Silver City called ‘1969’, which stood out from the rest as obviously crafted by real musicians. It turned out that Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza were indeed accomplished Bass and Keyboard players and fitted perfectly into the line up for the outfit. Sharply recruited, the new 2020Soundsystem project was born and within months was quickly appearing at clubs such as Bugged Out! Basics, The Sub Club, Watergate and Fabric among many others timed with the release of their first EP “All Systems Go”.
Performances at festivals such as Exit, Creamfields Argentina, Homelands, Global Gathering, Sonar, T In The Park and Rockness cemented their worldwide reputation as a dynamic and exciting live act. Within two short years the fledgling act found itself playing to audiences of 25,000 on three occasions.
2020 Soundsystem’s debut 2006 long player “No Order” featured two discs including a set recorded ‘Live at Sonar’. Collaborations with vocalist Diane Charlemagne and NYC band The Glass highlighted how far the band had progressed as songwriters on the flip. ‘No Order’ went on to become a pioneering work in America for the emerging live electronic scene there. The response in the States was as phenomenal as it was unexpected and the guys became the hot ticket at virtually every major festival there in 2007. Again playing to huge crowds of 10,000 plus people at Camp Bisco, Rothbury, Wakurusa and more.
The 2020Soundsystem cemented their reputation in late 2009 with the release of their second album ‘Falling’ which warned them a place on the front cover of DJ magazine and 5 star reviews in every influential music publication. A new wave of touring across Europe followed in 2010 including debut appearances at The Big Chill, Croatia Garden Festival and a debut full live band show at We Love Space.
Lawson’s DJ world did not stop during the Soundsystem years at all but increased alongside his profile through the band’s success. In 2007 he was asked to mix fabric 33 for the celebrated series, which went on to sell over 12,000 copies and ended up in many compilation of the year charts. Lawson then mixed a label compilation for Japanese label P-Vine in 2008. In 2010 Lawson was invited to take up a monthly residency at We Love Space and mixed the second We Love Space Ibiza album featuring exclusively 2020Vision material.
Ralph Lawson’s DJ sets always contain the energy found in Techno, yet are deeply instilled with the roots of House music. His pedigree as a producer means that everything is put together in a very musical way as warm analogue synths flow over live drums and programmed beats. This unique brew is presented in legendary long sets by technical skills that have been sponsored by Allen and Heath, Native Instruments and Ableton. The 2020 Vision leader’s electronic cutting-edge sound manages to demand everybody’s attention. Always forward thinking, Lawson brings a European sensibility to the American roots of house music.